… and promptly get blown out of the water. It doesn’t matter which headline is better. Sonia is a legend. So the account executive goes with the better copywriter, not the better headline, 10 times out of 10.

So let’s try scenario B …

This time, we don’t ask the account exec’s opinion on which headline is better. (Steaks-and-strategy sessions with the client aside, he doesn’t know anyway.)

This time, after Sonia presents her headline, I whip off one of the dainty white gloves I’m prone to wear, slap her across the face, and say, “Madame, I demand satisfaction! I challenge you to a duel!”

When you don’t know the answer, let the customer decide

I wouldn’t let Sonia choose pistols at dawn. Instead, our weapon would be a split test.

Half of prospective customers would be exposed to Sonia’s headline and half to mine. And then we’d see, under real-world conditions where customers don’t even know they’re making a choice, which headline was really more effective.

But beyond the customer, think how A/B testing can help you

As a writer, I pride myself on my pitching ability.

But … I still hate pitching. At heart, I’m a writer, not a salesman.

So, imagine, if instead of having to pitch and convince the account executive or the client why your headline is better than the jargon-filled, scalable-automated-solution they normally prefer … you could just show them.

Let us show you how it’s done …

Give us your best subject line for a chance to win a ticket to Email Summit 2014 (plus hotel)

To give you a real example of A/B testing you can participate in, and test your copywriting mettle, I’m not going to challenge Sonia to a duel.

I’m challenging you.

To be more specific, Copyblogger and MarketingExperiments are pitting our audiences against each other for an A/B testing duel.

If you scroll down, you’ll see the exact copy of an email we are going to send promoting MarketingSherpa Email Summit in Las Vegas.

We’re asking you to write the best subject line you can think of, and leave it as a comment for this blog post.

Then Sonia and the Copyblogger team will read each and every comment and hand-pick the five subject lines they think will perform best. We’ll pick five subject lines from the MarketingExperiments blog as well (you can see the blog post announcing this contest to our audience here).

We’ll then run all 10 of those subject lines in a split test.

The writer of the subject line that generates the largest number of unique clickthroughs will receive a complimentary ticket to Email Summit 2014. We’ll even put you up in the host hotel, the Aria resort, for two nights.

The writer of the subject line that gets the highest open rate (clickthrough rate is our primary KPI, or key performance indicator, but opens will be a secondary KPI), will receive complimentary access to the MECLABS Email Messaging Online Course.

The last day to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount ($300 off) for Email Summit 2014 tickets is January 9, 2014. If you plan to be out of the office for the holidays, be sure to book your ticket before your vacation so you don’t miss out on this special rate.

MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2014 promises to provide you with a great experience and an opportunity to learn what is and isn’t working in email marketing today. All case study presentations focus on real results with practical concepts you can use to do your job better. Come learn from your peers at companies like 3M, Dell, Porsche and Whirlpool.

If you want to learn how to grow your list, boost your performance and increase email ROI, join us at the Aria Resort & Casino Las Vegas on Feb. 17-20, 2014 for Email Summit 2014. Order your tickets today so you don’t miss out on the Early Bird price before it expires January 9, 2014.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me anytime at p.markey@meclabs.com.

I hope to see you there!

Sincerely,
Pamela Markey
Senior Director, Marketing
MarketingSherpa

Recap:

To enter the contest, write the strongest email subject line for the above message that you can.

Leave your entry as a comment in this blog post.

The best five entries from Copyblogger will be tested, along with the best five entries from the MarketingExperiments blog.

The writer of the subject line that generates the largest number of unique clickthroughs will receive a complimentary ticket to Email Summit 2014, and we’ll put you up in the host hotel, the Aria resort, for two nights.

The writer of the subject line that gets the highest open rate will receive complimentary access to the MECLABS Email Messaging Online Course.

Daniel Burstein

Daniel oversees all editorial content coming from MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments while helping to shape the editorial direction for MECLABS Institute – working with our team of reporters to dig for actionable information while serving as an advocate for the audience. Daniel is also a frequent speaker and moderator at live events and on webinars. Previously, he was the main writer powering MarketingExperiments publishing engine – from Web clinics to Research Journals to the blog.

RE: Open this email so I can give you yet another “last day to take advantage” sales pitch while waving a “$300 off” discount (because I’m too embarrassed to state its real price and value to stand on its own), so that wow, you can be an “Early Bird” (can I, can I, a bird). This will be so important (whatever this “MerketingSherpa Email Summit 2014” thing is, as if they really think I memorize past “great experiences” deleted emails) that you should re-prioritize your own family vacation plans because we will deliver an “opportunity to learn” (just an opportunity folks, don’t get too excited) and let me close by asking (in a condescending way) do “you want to learn how to grow … boost your performance … and increase your …” great Scott I got it … come to Vegas for SEX … “order your tickets today” … “don’t miss out” … “offer expires”.

Okay, too long for an Email Subject Line … but it’s honest. It may not matter how pretty a bow you can craft to put on this message (of course I’m not a copywriter). So my honest answer (fun aside) is to leave the Subject blank and hope nobody reads it to save your reputation!

Honestly, I agree with Tom. The subject line may generate opens, but it’s the copy within the email that leads to click throughs (the KPI chosen) and from a copy writing perspective… this email is pretty weak.

And unlike Tom, I AM a copywriter 😉

Also, this post includes no real info about the target audience. — — How did these people end up on this list?
— Are they all folks who went last year, just people that read free stuff from the website or have they spent money with the organization in some other way?
— Are these people even the key decision makers?

All that matters A LOT. It builds a context for this email that can be used to help craft a strategy for getting them to open and click through.

– While we have more targeted and segmented sends, this particular send is going to the entire list for both MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa. A list this size will allow us to test many subject lines and get a large enough sample size to have statistically significant results for CTR. So they end up on the list in a variety of ways. Some have attended previous summits or bought products from us in the past. Some only read free content or attended a webinar. For example, here are some of the MarketingSherpa newsletters they can sign up for… http://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters.html

– Much like the above, it’s a mix of decision makers, and those that have to get approval from a decision maker.

Exactly… clearly there’s an insight that most of us appear to be missing.

Here’s at least a bit of where my head’s at. I’d love to get your take on it Sonia.

With the understanding that the subject line and body copy need to live and work together as a team, within reason, I’ve always used the subject line to drive opens and body copy to tell a convincing story and pitch the product.

This is why I (and I suspect many of the others) have focused on driving opens with the headline. We are relying on the body copy to do the heavy lifting and drive CTRs.

With an awesome list and great customer loyalty you might not need much “convincing” to get people to open your mails and take quick action, but I’m not sure this conference has the awareness and brand to generate that kind of gravitational pull.

Brock,
My bet is that the entire subject line is targeted at click thrus. That is, it won’t get a high open rate but those who do open it are highly likely to click. It’s very relevant to the subject matter, and therefore represents exactly what’s inside…

The biggest benefit should be in the subject line because its only role is to get someone to open and read the email. Including the “proof” (company names) in there will increase response too.

The “$300 discount for only 1 more day..” is the offer to induce a response to the email so I’d place it after the “here’s what you get on this great day…” part of the main body – generate the desire for attending first.

Once the reader wants to attend, then they discover they can book now and save some money, I believe they will be more likely to respond to the $300 discount deal.

I also have an idea for a different deal that could generate more interest and increase the profit from each ticket sale. Email me if you want to hear it (sorry for hogging page space!)

This is the one I would click: a personal invitation, with reference to businesses with authority, a clear sendername and the title of the event. No spammy words at all what so ever. I might even click the link in the e-mail 🙂

Utility–>What’s in it for me? “discount.” Because that is what is going to make me take action.

Urgency–>Why now? “ends January 9” So now not only am I going to open this email because I deem it useful due to Brian Clark’s Authority, but I’m not going to waste time getting to that click through button.

How did I do?

Thank you all at Copyblogger for making this contest so transparent. This is my fantasy of how Authority must operate. I am so there in 2014.

And speaking of fantasies…aside from desperately wanting to go in to alter my submission in to the essay contest. [finally figured how to tighten the piece up enough to slip in a clarifying sentence]…yeah, didn’t think so–I dream about a contest that would have as its prize to work for Copyblogger. Planting the seed. Or is that something on the other side of the Authority divide?

My headline entry? I’ll post that before the deadline…after I reread “How to Write Magnetic Headlines” for the umpteenth time.